Monday, July 02, 2007

Bush is Chamberlain, Not Churchill

Such a nice day--so sunny and clear we broke our record for solar output, exceeding 16 kwh today--that it's been hard to get to the ol' computer.




However, if you don't get the Washington Post, or missed it yesterday, there was an insigtful piece in the Outlook section titled, "Why Winston Wouldn't Stand For W." The author, Lynne Olson, a former White House correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, has recently completed a book, titled "Troublesome Young Men," detailing "the small group of conservative members of Parliament who defied Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler, forced Chamberlain to resign in May 1940 and helped make Churchill his successor."




Olson notes that President Bush is a big fan of Winston Churchill, apparently fancying himself a Churchillian dogmatist. Not so, says Olson--if anything, Bush is Chamberlain. Sample: "Like Bush and unlike Churchill, Chamberlain came to office with almost no understanding of foreign affairs or experience in dealing with international leaders. Nonetheless, he was convinced that he alone could bring Hitler and Benito Mussolini to heel. He surrounded himself with like-minded advisers and refused to heed anyone who told him otherwise."




It's a good read.

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